1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for representation and preparation of at least one examination image of an examination subject that is created with an imaging medical imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
If images of an examination subject are acquired with medical imaging apparatuses such as x-ray apparatuses or magnetic resonance tomography systems or the like, these must subsequently be prepared and shown in an intelligible form in order to enable an error-free evaluation by the doctor. For example, for this purpose it is necessary for the images to be shown in the correct orientation and with the necessary quality standards. For example, in the imaging of a limb for assessment of a fracture it is necessary for the entire fracture to be visible in the exposure and additionally to show the adjoining joints, possibly in at least two projection views. For this purpose, a manual quality assurance is implemented by a medical-technical assistant after the acquisition of the image, in which quality assurance the adherence to basic quality standards is checked. For example, it is established whether the exposures are associated with the correct patient specified on the exposures, whether the correct body part is imaged, etc. It is additionally checked whether the exposures are “readable” in the sense that they allow a diagnosis to be made as optimally as possible or an assessment with regard to the presence of a pathology and its severity.
The quality of such a preparation and subsequent representation as a “soft copy”, thus for digital evaluation, is limited by the capability of the medical-technical assistant, his or her knowledge of possible representations desired by the evaluating doctor, and not least by errors given distraction or a lack of concentration. A problem additionally exists with regard to the efficiency of the workflow; it is not expected that a medical-technical assistant can or wants to prepare the data such that they are optimally adapted to the requirements for every single doctor who will evaluate these images afterwards. Post-processings are thus sometimes necessary or errors are not noticed at all since the preparation significantly depends on what, in a specific image, directly “catches the eye” of the competent technical employee. A high personnel requirement with simultaneously very high requirements for the training thus exists. At the same time, a non-negligible data traffic in the underlying network is necessary for such a preparation and in particular for a repeated preparation; the images are generally stored on a central server from which they must be recalled in order to be processed or post-processed by the technical assistants.